Hi
I’ve recently completed C25K about 4 weeks ago. I’ve been running at about 10.4 min miles at best but really struggle with my heart rate being high and in peak zone on my Garmin for 95% of the run.
This week I’ve slowed right down to about 12min mile, it feels better but heart rate still as high.
Any advice to get my heart rate down.
Thanks
Sam
Yeah the easy answer is to slow down. The harder you push yourself the higher your heart rate will be 😊
Yes you can't have it both ways I'm afraid. Running fast and a lower heart rate don't mix. Over time your heart rate will decrease maintaining the same pace as your fitness increases.
Take it gently, steady and slow and enjoy.
If your heart rate is high, you are probably running much too fast.
You are still a very new Graduate and after your recent consolidation weeks, maybe taking it easy, some short runs... some 30 minute and try some longer relaxed routes. They are the ones that build up stamina, strength and distance etc
make sure that
Also, have you upped your strength and stamina work on some of your rest days. You need to make sure that your whole running body keeps up with your legs .
and there's me knocking out week 7 with 7 minute kilometers and wondering why i feel like I'm dead on my feet. Time to fix my pace.
Thanks for you post - I don't think I would have realised where I was going wrong without this prompt.
Good luck with the rest of the program.
Very simple - if you're feeling very tired... if you're breathless at any point, including the end, then you're going too fast.
S L O W D O W N!
You're aiming for a conversational pace... a pace that feels like you could carry on forever (ish), ... but you feel like you carry on at the end if you had to.
Wow - just did 25 minutes at 7.5km/h instead of 8.5 - What an incredible difference.
I kept hearing Laura talk about "not too fast" etc through the earlier podcasts and thought I was doing just that, but apparently I was not. Thanks so much.
There you go. Now you know It really is an eye-opener when you find that pace isn't it? It's a great feeling to finish feeling like you could have carried on for much longer - holding yourself back for the next time, not feeling tired when you're back home etc.
Enjoy!
Garmin measures heart rate to a formula that is often wrong for a specific individual. You can reset the maximum heart rate so that personalised to you. Thanks to Beachcomber66 who told me how to do this:-
Go into your Garmin connect app.
Open the menu (bottom right on iPhone, top left on android.)
Select Garmin Devices
Select your device name (eg forerunner 35) which will be displayed
Select User Settings
Select configure heart rate zones
Enter the lowest heart rate value for each zone
Backing out of the menu will save!
When you say enter the lowest heart rate for each zone what do you mean exactly? sorry
I cant remember what I did now but I think I just set what I thought was my maximum heart rate (calculated by running as fast as I could up a hill!). It took me a bit of faffing about but I'm not very gadgety. However I would say worth persevering as it has made a huge difference to me- I knew I wasn't doing maximum effort but Garmin always told me that I was and often told me off for over training- which could not be further from the truth!!!
Each Zone has a range of heart rates, for example 80 to 95 for 1 zone, 96 to 111 for the next one, you set each of the lower figures for each zone, so you would set 80 then move on to set 96 for the next zone up in the above example and so on through the zones. Hope that helps; it is a bit fiddly but I managed to make it work.
Great thanks I’ll try that
How long have you been using your Garmin for running? It takes quite like while for it to gather enough information about you and settle down. I've only had mine a few weeks and couldn't get my heart rate out of the red zone until I personalised my stats.
I ran a 5k at a good speed and then tried to sprint the last 5 minutes (I use the word 'tried' advisedly). The highest heart rate recorded I used as my max heart rate and the other zones auto set themselves. It has definitely made a sensible difference to my overall stats.
I got the information online, ruunersworld, I think. I wanted to get it accurate because I'd like to start training to my heart rate.
Good luck 👍
Hi Sam TCpinty
How do you know your Garmin is telling you the truth? I know, strange question and maybe a bit unfair.
BUT... these devices (I have a Garmin FR235) can be quite glitchy and unreliable. If you are interested in heart rate, then you should learn to look at the graph it gives you and study it closely to check the device is behaving itself. It's very possible that device had lost your HR signal from your pulse and instead locked onto your cadence (foot strikes per minute) - this is very common. How to tell? Look at the graph and look for very sharp, almost vertical increases/decreases in the HR. Far more reliable is to use a chest or arm strap heart-rate monitor - they all work in conjuction with Garmin & other watches.
Also, and very important... how did you feel at 10 min miles? How hard were you working? What was your effort like? Did it feel like it corresponded to your peak zone? (You mean highest zone?
As for how to get your heart rate down... that comes with time, patience and lots of slow running. But for a single run, the only way to get your HR down is to slow down!
If you can, can you please post screenshots of the HR graphs from your 2 runs?
Thanks
John
I don’t think it will let me attach pictures here.
you need to write a completely new post to attach a photo and tag me using the @ function ( so you write "@John_W" but without the quotes. You need to wait a moment to see my name appear in a drop down box and click on that)
Have you read the guide to post C25K running?
healthunlocked.com/couchto5... in which it is suggested that 80 percent of your running should be at an easy conversational pace.
Very high heart rate - advice needed. 
Week 3 & high heart rate 
High Heart Rate on a 5k Run
WK 6 - heart rate at max. so am I running too fast ;-)
High heart rate when running slowly
